Ukraine to propose amendments to the Minsk Accords

Ukraine will propose amendments to the Minsk Accords
by the time of the Normandy Format summit in March or earlier, said on Dec. 11
Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s representative to the political subunit of the
Trilateral Contact Group to resolve the conflict in Donbas. The Minsk Accords
need to be revised so that they work effectively, he said. “Certainly, we will
write down our proposals. They were even ready in the president’s initiatives,”
he said in an interview with the hromadske.ua news site. He added, “the new
draft will be discussed with the political advisers and foreign ministers of
the four countries.”

In the press conference following the Dec. 9 Normandy
Format summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Minsk Accords are not a
document set in stone, and she welcomed Ukrainian President Zelensky’s
proposals to amend them. She didn’t specify what positions she was open to.
Zelensky has indicated repeatedly that his main complaint about the Minsk Accords,
making their fulfillment unacceptable to him, is they call for control of the
Russian-Ukrainian border in occupied Donbas being transferred to the Ukrainian
government after local elections are held, rather than beforehand.

Zenon Zawada: The Russians
won’t accept any amendments to the Minsk Accords since that would undermine its
current narrative – which has worked rather effectively throughout the world –
that Ukraine isn’t upholding its end of commitments. Accepting the amendments
would also undermine the position that Putin is projecting of having the
tactical upperhand and moral high ground in the talks. The notion that Russia
will consider any amendments presumes that Russia is interested in peace with
Ukraine. We share the widely accepted view that Russia is exclusively
interested in either subjugating the Ukrainian territory under its control, or
dismembering the Ukrainian state, whichever comes first.

Since taking office, the Zelensky administration has been
criticized for not accepting this geopolitical reality, and giving the Russians
the benefit of the doubt in seeking peace. Sooner or later however, the
president’s team will have to accept the reality that it is faced with a
zero-sum game created by Putin, in which it will have to choose between
submitting to Russia or fighting further. The Zelensky administration will also
have to confront the reality that a sizable portion of its electorate isn’t
interested in fighting any longer and won’t be opposed to joining the Russian
World, in exchange for the tangible, immediate benefits that that offers.